Tuesday, December 27, 2011

My business partner and I are getting close to delivering our first iPhone app (isn't everybody?) - stippled drawings. Android is soon to follow. It's no secret that I love dots, and this has been a labor of such. Look for it in the App. store in a month or so. In the meantime, enjoy these two iconic examples of what can be done with your favorite photographs, inspiration, and some cool software.

Friday, December 23, 2011

One of the most popular Google searches to this site are questions of Black violence. In this post, I grabbed the closest examples I could find showing that neither group holds a monopoly. It really depends on who is looking, and where they look. Interesting.

Wednesday, December 21, 2011

The Occupy Wall Street (OWS) et al Movement is leaderless, fragmented, and muddled in what it seemingly wants from those of various authority. However, what is not muddled is discontent with direct and indirect elites, and steadily reaching significant numbers that are willing to put their displeasure on the line – against batons, rubber-bullets, tear gas, pepper-spray, and arrest.

To date, the Occupy Movement, which has been labeled domestic terrorism by some, has mustered only short bursts of hundreds to thousands of protesters. But what would happen if rotations of hundreds OF thousands of people descended upon Washington or NYC, for weeks at a time, and continually harped on governmental failures? Mr. Obama’s conundrum gains some clarity. Clearing out these disrupters under the Jeffersonian constitution could prove difficult, if not impossible. The fundamental right to freedom of speech and assembly, AND due process, requires that whoever collects and detains these people also have ready and reasonable ‘processes’ for fair judicial rendering. Frankly, the country has no administration in place for such a constitutional exercise, either as a one-time event, and certainly not as continuous public theater, fueled by problems that are not going away anytime soon.

Hence, the president needs the unassailable latitude to label any citizen a terrorista, command the military, forcibly extract said disgruntled accused, and warehouse them in some rural barb-wired tent-city, INDEFINITELY or, until Prez figures out how to release them, ready to behave themselves. This is why the current administration needs NDAA 1031 on the legal books, constitutionally poisonous as it is. Detaining US citizens has little or nothing to do with protecting us from bona-fide terrorist, but rather removing the constitutional barriers to controlling free movement, assembly, and speech/protest – otherwise showing people who the ‘eff’ is boss. Call it a preparatory-step toward Martial Law (here).

O-man's Harvard Law Review plaque is looking like a Crackerjack prize right about now, and the late Steve Jobs may have been more right about a one-term Obama than his Siri could have ever thought differently. Or maybe Americans ARE as ignorant as the White House believes.

Tuesday, December 20, 2011

It’s an outrageous thing for a bunch of predominantly white senators and congresspersons to piss on the constitution, via NDAA 1031 legislation (here), because they seemingly lack the cojones or ovaries to tell their parties to go to hell, but I suppose there’s safety in numbers. However, for our first-black President, Barack Obama, sitting at the helm of this travesty is likely to get him run out of office in 2012. Mind you, not just because he is black, or a Democrat, but because he’s the president for godsakes, and his veto and pulpit are suppose to protect fundamental constitutional rights, not strip them away, as does the pending National Defense Authorization Act.

Under no condition should American citizens face “indefinite detainment” by the president or the military, or anyone else. But let’s be clear, Obama threatened to veto the bill if it did NOT contain the indefinite detainment of US citizen’s language (above). How about them apples? If the opposition can only field a candidate with half a communicating brain, Mr. Obama could be in big trouble come next November. Unfortunately, the half-brain requirement has been an on-going problem for the party of Lincoln. Regarding NDAA 1031, we are all in big trouble, forget the election.

And furthermore, how come black folks can’t see that ‘indefinite detainment’ is the wet-dream of every racist ever born – 95% approval rating my ass – folks need to wake up!

So I asked myself, why would a left-leaning, constitutional lawyer-turned-president, want the ability to throw US citizens in jail, without ever putting them on trial. What could make this man toss the constitution he knows so well into the crapper? The short answer is that he thinks he needs it.

To expand, I can only imagine that somewhere within the bowels of the White House, is a windowless room where a bunch of allegedly smart people have surmised that the shit is about to hit-the-fan on the home front. But how so? Hmmmm. Let me think. The country is in financial crisis because a Goldman-Saks led Wall Street decided they could top the Savings & Loan rip-off, with the mortgage-back securities rip-off, and they did. Obama lets the thieving 1% walk. Oh yeah, Mr. Bernanke is printing money as fast as it takes the ink to dry, and giving it to banks for .01% interest (free), who are in-turn buying T-bills paying 3%! The remaining 99% of Americans are increasingly fat, lazy, ignorant and entitled up the kazoo. Europe is in a financial melt-down of its own. China is headed toward crisis, because there may be no one to buy all the crap they are preparing to build. Japan is completely jacked, (see Fukushima). We are fighting battles in the Middle-east that are more about enriching defense contractors, than eliminating terrorist. Yep, the Main Street-level poo-poo could really hit the fan, and I ain't talking occupy.

So, President Obama’s White House, the Senate, and Congress are all preparing to keep order, by suspending our rights. The only thing Obama has to worry about now is if Americans wake the hell up before next November. But, whether voters jam Obama or not, history will say we are witnessing the gasps of a 200+ year-old glutinous giant, about to fall - hard.

Wednesday, December 07, 2011

After recently attending the award-winning Nigerian musical FELA!, about a musician’s travails in that challenged African nation, I was out in Berkeley with friends enjoying a great Nigerian band (BaBa Ken/Katoja). The venue included many ex-patriot African patrons. While enjoying the music, my party ran smack dab into the issue of recklessly importing people who grow up in a very different and, in the case of Nigeria, dangerous place. Shit happens, and it did.

At one point in the evening, my girlfriend whipped out her recently acquired iPhone 4s, to take a picture of me. Immediately afterwards, we were faced with a very angry Nigerian fellow who thought she was taking pictures of him to somehow facilitate his untimely demise. Perhaps he left Lagos under a cloud - I do not know. The country is certainly a very dangerous place where a small amount of tribal difference, hostility, or money, can get someone killed.

Anyway, despite our attempts, the Nigerian fellow could not comprehend that his identity did not reside on the phone, and that we did not work for the government. At one point he grabbed the phone, to get a closer look, and then refused to return it. In all his yelling, he asked me if I wanted to fight. I said no, but also that he was not leaving with that phone. His final word was that he was keeping the phone and dared that I should call the police. It was as though he thought the police would either support his obstinacy, or (more likely) that calling the authorities was silly.

I approached the club owner, explained the events and asked him to call Berkeley PD. Before making the call, the owner wanted to talk to the guy and ‘straighten out this misunderstanding’. That conversation ended with the owner fending off the beginnings of a battery by the Nigerian. I then became adamant about calling the police, even if I had to make the call myself.

The Berkeley PD quickly arrived and patiently threatened the man into returning the phone. On their way to this result, they explained all the rights and responsibilities that governed his free attendance at the night club, including possible photos, and admonished that those ideas he brought from Nigeria carried no weight in the U.S. Although he eventually relented, he clearly was not convinced by anyone that Berkeley was not Lagos, Nigeria and that his understanding was inadequate, nor was his behavior in need of adapting.

I went home that night with a profound feeling that this man should not be here, and there are probably many others like him. It is too damn easy to get into this country! Thank goodness he did not have a weapon. While his influential experiences may be little fault of his own, there is no reasonable excuse for his theft or refusal to accept and follow the laws of his adopted land. And whether his ancestors were brought here in chains or he came willingly, the requirement is the same – know the law, follow the law, or suffer the consequences.

At one point early in the dispute, the Nigerian’s female companion attempted to guide him, but his words and body-language, and her immediate retreat, quickly established that he would not hesitate to ‘knock the you-know-what out of her’. His words to her “you, shut up!” were sautéed in a violent tone and look, and the instant fear in her eyes told a deeper and chilling story, by itself.

Thursday, November 17, 2011

It is no surprise that Penn State Assistant Coach Mike McQueary is now double-talking that he contacted the police regarding his witnessing of the Sandusky rape of a 10-year old boy on campus in 2002. Only thing is that neither Penn State Police, or the campus police, have a record of McQueary saying peep to them, unequivocally. As well, McQueary's grand jury testimony makes no mention of contacting any authorities other than Head Coach Paterno, Athletic Director Curley, and University VP Schultz. Oh yeah, McQueary did first contact his own father (John J. McQueary), presumably the cowardly example-setter who reared his son onto the ill-fated, protect-your-own-ass, path upon which he nows finds himself.

I'm fortunate. My old man would have only had one question, if I had been in McQueary's shoes - can he touch the blunt object I used to smash Sandusky's degenerate scull? Any other question or response would have been unacceptable! Momma McQueary must feel pretty good right about now.

With nearly a decade of silence behind them, I pity the chip-off-the-old-bastard McQueary that he and his old man had no heart to help that poor boy or the other boys they should have imagined, from the clutches of a monster. However, it is the faded hope that had to be in the boy's eyes that night, as McQueary arrived and departed the rape scene never to be heard from, that breaks this father's/son's heart.

Tuesday, November 15, 2011

The case against Sandusky bears an uncanny resemblance to the one against former Boston Red Sox Club House Manager, Donald Fitzpatrick, who was convicted of sexually abusing poor black boys in Winter Haven FL, off-season training home of the baseball team (here). What people are not yet saying about Sandusky is the question, in addition, of if the eight victims were predominantly, if not all, poor and black - and there are at least ten more similar at-risk victims in the queue, if you believe Pennsylvania's Governor.

Why is this question/answer not in the MSM (main stream media), but rather I had to dig to find it? (here) and other out of the way places?

Joe Paterno reported one of his assistant coach's - Jerry Sandusky - sexual misconduct to his Penn State superiors and when they did nothing, he did nothing, thus allowing the abuser to continue for years. No termination. No police. No protect children. No nothing. Let's see, hmmmm...how to erase a storied career through misplaced morals and ethics, by Joe Paterno. All Joe had to do was empathize as a father. What was more important? Story here.

Saturday, November 05, 2011

"Rooney always denied that he was a racist. In the 1940s, he was arrested after sitting in the back of a segregated bus in protest.[28] Also, in 2008, when Barack Obama was elected President of the United States, Rooney applauded the fact that "the citizens of this country, 80 percent of whom are white, freely chose to elect a black man as their leader simply because they thought he was the best choice." He said that makes him proud, and that it proves that the country has "come a long way — a good way."" Wikipedia

I liked Andy Rooney, he saw what he saw, and said so, pleasant or not. I never forgot that he was an old fart, so I listened to him the same way I learned to listened to my own father, and every other man of his generation.

Tuesday, November 01, 2011

In light of their sheer numbers and the recent pass given to the Wall Street mortgage-backed securities scammers like Goldman Sachs (by Obama), the Occupiers and their supporters will undoubtedly win the blame game now going on across the country – that is, if they can stay focused through the holiday buying season – which ain't so easy.

However, I happen to think there is easily enough blame to go around on all sides. Conservatives/rich people say the poor folks don’t work hard enough or smart enough, and they are right. The first thing poor folks do with a dollar is spend it like they know where to immediately get five more. For my adult years I have been watching more and more poor folks buy Mercedes-Benz's, BMW's, big trucks, campers, boats, and the like when they should have been putting it to better use, like educating their kids how not to be knuckleheads and looking for a second job to backstop the first.

Rich folks, for their part, turned their attention from manufacturing useful stuff to export, to figuring out to better fleece dumb poor folks by selling them imported crap they do not need, on credit they should not have. The government and politicians have continually lowered the bar on what it allows rich folks to get away with, in pursuit of gullible pocketbooks. To be serious, the rich folks, who should know better, have pooped in their own back yard and the smell has come back on them. The US has the most over-housed, accessorized, fancy-car driving, recreational-vehicle owning, poorly-educated, ill-mannered population on the planet – courtesy of the trend-setting, conspicuous consumption of the rich.

While the Occupiers may win the argument, the war is already over. The rich do not have enough ill-gotten money stashed away, even if they gave it up, to make up for all the super-sized wants and demanded entitlements of poor folks and their unabashed, non-apologizing ignorance of what drives economic and social advancement.

Lastly, who the hell is running Oakland now that Dellums is officially in the pasture? Thank goodness the city does not own any tanks!

Monday, October 24, 2011

Washington political leaders on both sides of the isle are hard at work flushing this country down the toilet! In 2006, John Boehner(R), current House Speaker, wrote legislation that deregulated on-line education, ballooning the education debt and defaults from these 'shady', for-profit, institutions that lure the desperate and gullible (here). This year President Obama did a major 180 degree 'cave' on his campaign promise to clean-up this gross misuse of government-guaranteed loans (here). So, I guess we know what these dudes talk about while pretending to play golf. "Whose turn is it to screw the voters/taxpayers?"

The backdrop to these D.C. dealings is the one trillion, that's TRILLION!, in accumulated student debt that the US is closing in on, including a record $100 billion this year alone. Like the housing bubble, it is only a matter of time before the education bubble explodes. The federal government will ultimately curtail these bad government-backed loans made to people pursuing worthless degrees, at over-priced for-profit AND traditional universities and colleges. When this happens, in the not too distant future, young people will truly come to know what some of us already know, they have been screwed by their elders. There is no longer the pot-of-gold at the end of the education rainbow - just inescapable debt shackles and limited job opportunities.

So children, sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but you should beware (or be aware)! You are not in Kansas anymore (unless of course you actually live in Kansas, then technically you are, but not really, because Dorothy and Toto are dead - got it?).

Friday, October 21, 2011

Some people (previous post here) accuse me of encouraging racism by posting black people behaving badly (to state it mildly). To the contrary, I think it should be mandatory that everyone see this behavior, so we can stop pretending that this country's faults arise from 'others'.

The McDonald's cashier clearly went beyond simply defending himself, and he will suffer for this. On the other hand these two females stepped over a line that justified the initial response (IMHO). No telling what kind of life-threatening beating they were prepared to give this working black man. This is the risk you take when you assault someone - they may have a metal rod handy and experience in using it.

FTR, I assume that anytime I pass a fifty (rarely), that it will be scrutinized in all high/low tech's of manner, in order to validate it's authenticity - including the risk that it may be both authentic and rejected.

Tuesday, October 18, 2011

Back in August, I noticed that one of my 'favorite' hate sites, whyblackssuck.blogspot.com, was back up and running after being taken down by Google. As before, I re-started my regular complaints. I'm happy to say that it is gone again, especially since it was spewing the same filth. If you did not see my earlier post, here it is.

Thursday, October 13, 2011

I see this question a lot. It is best answered with the form of another question, why do people from the southern US love fried foods? The Europeans that settled the south, prior to slavery, were largely Scottish, and they brought the well-established practice of frying food in animal fat, from Scotland. This penchant was unlike the English, who preferred boiling and baking their fowl.

This question gets black-focused airplay in the north and western US, while rarely heard of south of the Mason-Dixon, where asking it would signal unrestrained ignorance. Beyond the south, non-southern whites use the question to disparage geographically transplanted blacks, as though fried-chicken has some magical hold on black people. It does not. It is easily and economically prepared, and it taste good.

If the higher calorie and fat content of fried foods is well known, the better question is why higher educated and higher income Blacks continue behaviors, like eating fried-chicken (see study here), when the inevitable result is poorer health? In general, education, economics and social customs conspire to keep blacks tethered to the mind set where any tasty food is good for you, as long as there is plenty of it.

The study does not say, but it may be that better off blacks, who have assimilated certain key behaviors in order to advance (for example speech and dress) seek to experience nostalgia, or to ‘keep it real’ in one of the few places, the dinner event, that holds no immediate threat of disqualification.

Tuesday, October 11, 2011

"Evan Van der Spuy, a 17-year-old member of Team Jeep, was flying in the Time Freight MTB Express Mountain race Sunday near Pietermaritzburg when a leaping Red Hartebeest, or antelope, ran smack into him. Travis Walker, his trailing teammate, happened to have a camera strapped to his bike."

Wednesday, October 05, 2011

I'm a nerd, from way back in the stack, and only two years younger than Mr. Jobs. I was a few blocks away at HP, in Cupertino, when Apple began. I worked at Apple during graduate school. If it is possible for a company to touch a person, Apple is all the way it. I am currently building an iPhone app that rendered the stipple (dot) drawing you see here. I build things for every platform, but Apple is the gold standard, warts and all.

Steve Jobs was a lot of things extraordinary and human, but mostly he is proof that if you do not live your life to do the things you love, you are wasting your precious time on the planet.

Wednesday, September 28, 2011

Just yesterday, the UC Berkeley College Republicans (UCBCR), with the support of fellow Republicans from nearby schools, and Prop. 209-advocate and former UC Regent Ward Connerly, conducted a satirical “increase diversity bake sale”, whereby white men were charged $2 for a cup cake, while Asian men paid $1.50, Latino men $1, and black men $.75. Women paid $.25 less than the comparable male price. Three-hundred cupcakes were sold (out). (here) The UCBCR was attempting to draw attention to SB 185, which they feel might water-down the earlier Prop 209, banning affirmative action in college admissions.

A friend who works near the campus responded, ‘that’s so racist’, wherein I said, ‘it’s not racist, just really stupid’. In fact, these bake-sale events are not new to campus Republicans, and seem a vital part of learning the art of not-persuading-anybody-about-anything, as practiced by the group’s leaders/mentors. I have yet to see mocking-your-adversary as an effective tool of argument/persuasion, but the Republicans keep sticking to it, all the way to DC.

The counter-response/protest, by the UC Student Association, was a ‘die-in’, where a bunch of non-sympathizing students wore black clothes and played-dead near the bake sale. This seems a little stupid, as well. Why not counter with a ‘Walgreens’ sale, wherein white males pay $.75, Asians $1, Latinos $1.50, and Blacks $2, for a tube of toothpaste, depending on their suburban/urban store location. Now debate them apples, kiddies!

UC Berkeley?, the number one public institution of higher learning in the US? Makes one wonder about admissions across-the-board, don’t it?

Thursday, September 08, 2011

When I lived in New England, first to attend Harvard, and then to work, I experienced my introduction to white-looking blacks, who were NOT passing for white. While they would certainly be mistaken for white by most blacks and whites, they made identification as black easy by their conspicuous attendance at all-black events, before you ever knew their history or heard them speak of it.

Unlike passing blacks, these white-skinned blacks, for lack of a better description, are very proud of their black history, some of which dates back even prior to the Mayflower. These ‘white-blacks’ clearly have predominantly Caucasian genetic background, but due to the laws of the day and circumstances, were classified as black and lived their lives as such. They worked as blacks, attended church and school as blacks, and were often (but not always) segregated from opportunities afforded whites. As you would expect, some white-blacks used their white-features to elevate themselves above pigmented blacks, but this author suspects that this elevation is a more common occurrence with traditional light-skinned blacks.

On one occasion, a dear Bostonian friend from a prominent Washington DC family invited me to accompany her on a visit with the grown daughters of a childhood friend. The home of one of the girls resembled typical collegial-Cambridge, white Cambridge that is. Blonde hair and blue eyes were everywhere, especially the children. But something did not seem ‘right’. Everyone was so at ease with my friend’s black-related activities, including the black stranger - me. In the car after we had departed my friend abruptly says, “I know what you are thinking, and the answer is yes, those people are black.” Wow! Did not see that one coming! (I secretly think this smart woman was purposely padding my worldly education, an activity she graciously has repeated to this day.)

Tuesday, August 30, 2011

Some thirty years ago, after high school, my late father and I took a road trip from Colorado up to Washington state and then to California to see the countryside and some of his relatives. The folks in the Great North looked like him, light-skinned, but definitely Black. I was probably the most dark relative they had ever seen, making me a bit of a novelty on a generally fun visit. When we arrived in California things were a bit different.

After visiting the relatives I recalled, my Dad said we were going to see a side of the family, in Oakland, I had curiously never met. The woman was actually my father’s first cousin and he had not seen her in twenty years, which placed their last visit in the late fifties. Before arriving at her house, he explained that I had never met her because she had been passing for white in her adult life, and he vowed not to see her again. It seems that the last time they met, she told him to keep his distance so as not to ‘mess-up’ her good thing. It was a rare occasion to consider that my Dad’s feelings could be hurt.

Fast-forward to the day we met her and her husband, and true to his word if I did not know better I would have believed they were white. The husband, in particular, had greenish-blueish eyes that definitely had me thinking 'what the hell'. At first I kept looking at her and my Dad, wondering how he got a white ‘lady’ in his family. As the visit wore on things changed, the more she spoke about our family the blacker and blacker she sounded, until I started to see other relatives in her mannerisms and tones. At this point I no longer perceived her to be white, despite her appearance. Both she an her husband seem to 'act more black' as the visit went on. At the end they promised to stay in touch, but my Dad later said that would not happen. In his eyes, they could not ignore family for the sake of a good living denied to their real kin, and then come back so easily. Curiosity did not change his mind.

Later, when I moved to California I never looked them up and Dad never asked about them. I have not seen nor heard of them them since that meeting. I have no doubt that there are white folks (second cousins in this case) today in the Bay Area to whom I was once related, and if they knew their family background (or cared to reveal it) they could claim their substantial black heritage.

Monday, August 22, 2011

A few weeks ago, a good friend sent me a NYTimes Magazine article by Toure (here), Preconceptions, which was really about race and identity, although the sub-text debated the pros and cons of corporal punishment. In that article, the black culturalist Toure confronted a white-looking woman on Martha’s Vineyard, who turned out, to his amazement, to be black. The woman’s sister, blonde with blue eyes, became indignant as well that Mr. Toure thought she was also white. White people who are black? Black people who look 100% white? Huh?

When I was a kid growing up in Denver, there was a family, call them the George’s, who began my education on how white people could be black. The parents had twin daughters my age who looked every bit as white as mom and dad, while also being black. Now my own father was very light, but I still had difficulty accepting what my brown-skinned mother said, that the ever-so-white-looking George’s were in fact black. There is a big difference between light-skinned blacks and white-skinned blacks. In the end, my child’s-mind concluded that the George’s were black as it suited them, and/or others. On one hand, black people seemed a lot more social (read fun to a kid) than whites, but this did not change the preference.

Later on, when I was in college, one of the George daughters was in a spectacular downhill skiing accident and nearly died. The news coverage of the day never mentioned that she was black, although stories back then invariably spoke of race if the incident was extraordinary involving a black. In those days, before political correctness, race always mattered and media coverage reflected this. (What was a black person doing trying to ski in the first place!) The bottom line is that people often let others believe what they want, as long as it is to their advantage to do so.

The white-looking black woman Toure wrote about on Martha’s Vineyard certainly benefited from her fair features, whether she would admit it or not. Blacks that ‘pass for white’, by letting others believe their eyes, benefit the most. Studies (one here) show whites, and blacks, continue to favor light-skinned blacks. Toure’s MV subject certainly benefited socially from black acceptance, merited or not. What she or her sister did not count on was Toure’s negative implication that they might be having it both ways.

Tuesday, July 26, 2011

Holy cow! I had no idea what I would see here, but no way could I have envisioned such a game. The hand-eye coordination, speed, and acrobatics are amazing. Should definitely be an Olympic event (IMHO and LMAO). As for toughest sport? - hardly, but maybe the toughest coordination.

Thursday, July 21, 2011

When I saw this headline, "Man Murdered Because of Dripping Air Conditioner" (here), I instinctively considered that those involved, the dead man, his alleged killer, and the six witnesses, were black. Why is that? Is it because black people do, indeed, kill each other in high numbers for the most slight of offenses? Yes, but STOP, that's as far as we can go. The subject of black violence and what might be driving it is taboo, particularly because the measurable intelligence of the perpetrator Charles Sims, and his complaining sister, are drawn directly into question by their actions. We are not allowed to speak of race and intelligence in the same sentence, or risk banishment. But, I'll say it - just did.

African-Americans reflect a one standard deviation difference below the mean intelligence of the non-black population of the US. This is huge, and is/should be, logically, a 'factor-of-interest' for that which has the black population in check-mate, and everybody else blocking. To not consider it is irresponsible. I happen to believe, like U of Mich. Richard Nisbett (here), that intelligence is not as rigid as some people think, and we are ignoring the responsibility to challenge the black community to be 'smarter', in many ways. If black folks can get dumber, the trend that these stories support, then they can also get smarter. Not being able to talk about it for fear of a backlash is keeping everyone ignorant to solutions.

Thursday, July 14, 2011

"Yohann Gene of Guadeloupe has just become the first black cyclist in the Tour de France. The 30-year-old French professional road bicycle racer competes for the UCI Professional Continental team named Europcar.

Considered a role model for many bicycling athletes, Gene has been racing professionally since 2005. He became interested in bicycling at age 17 after moving to Europe. Upon his arrival, Gene entered a special high school course for athletically-gifted pupils..." Time Magazine

So, what's the big deal? Well, the big deal is simply that until whites, or blacks for that matter, see that the other is capable of competing in a particular activity, they have a nasty habit of subscribing all sorts of idiocy to the reason(s) why the activity is exclusive to a group. Too tall, too short, too big, too small, too much fast twitch, to much slow twitch, etc. It really comes down to who cares to devote themselves from an early age.

Notwithstanding all of this year's crashes, I love watching the TDF and cheering for whomever I like, regardless of nationality, or ethnicity. I cheered for that knucklehead Lance Armstrong, all those years, so you best believe I will be searching out Gene tonight on replay, as I catch today's race.

Thursday, July 07, 2011

I am not sure what set these Milwaukee young people off on July 3, whereby they looted a BP gas station. I suspect they were simply acting up in a way they felt could not be challenged, but hopefully they are wrong. While police are using the video to investigate, some parents are ahead of the game in turning in their own children, similar to what happened in Vancouver a few weeks ago, when Boston defeated the Canucks in the Stanley Cup. No matter where disorder happens, policing (when it works) can only enforce a minimum standard of behavior, while good parenting leads. (video here).

Tuesday, June 28, 2011

First of all, I never knew that the N-word (which I detest) could be a verb, but I have been told that somewhere in the Oakland slang dictionary you will find a definition that goes something like:
“NIGGA’D, verb (used with object) 1. to deprive of life in any manner, by an individual who is often black and self-described as a “nigga”; cause the death for reasons deemed senseless and grossly out of proportion to any alledged offense or threat”.

Anyhow, as I was exiting the freeway this morning, a black guy in a busted-ass vehicle cut-off an older white man in a late model Infiniti FX SUV. The old white dude took offense and tried to go around N-man on the exit ramp, who was not having any of the displeasure. Meanwhile, I’m getting ready to speed-dial the paramedics, because I’m thinking that this could go very wrong for them and me, as a bystanding driver in the firing line.

Then the mess got hotter. Old white guy pulls along side, rolls down the window, and starts jawing with challenged N-man. Neither moves against the green light. I wait, ready to hit the floor mats. Nothing. I slide past white man quickly and with a very low profile. N-man then proceeds through light, while old white man turns left behind me.

At the next light I wanted to ask the old white man what was wrong with him challenging a brother with such obvious “unresolved economic and social issues”. He could have gotten himself killed over some stupid nothing. Was it worth the risk? Hell no. Long ago, in Boston, I learned that regardless of race, unless someone actually hits your car, keep the F-moving.

I’m no fan of the N-word or its derivations and wish the word would go away, but this does not change the accuracy of the urban defintion, or the warning it represents. Remember, everyone does not place the same value on human life, yours or their own. Word to the wise. Keep moving.

Thursday, June 23, 2011

"A photo of the scantily clad man was provided to The Chronicle by Jill Tarlow, a passenger on the June 9 flight from Fort Lauderdale, Fla., to Phoenix. Tarlow said that other passengers had complained to airline workers before the plane boarded, but that employees had ignored those complaints.

US Airways spokeswoman Valerie Wunder confirmed she'd received the photo before last week's incident in San Francisco and had spoken to Tarlow, but said employees had been correct not to ask the man to cover himself.

"We don't have a dress code policy," Wunder said. "Obviously, if their private parts are exposed, that's not appropriate. ... So if they're not exposing their private parts, they're allowed to fly."

I am not sure what to think about where the world is going, except that sagging Marmon needs to make better decisions in when and how to confront what he believes as unfair treatment.

Sunday, June 19, 2011

"Police say a University of New Mexico football player's saggy pants led to his arrest at San Francisco International Airport. Sgt. Michael Rodriguez says 20-year-old Deshon Marman was boarding a flight Wednesday to Albuquerque, N.M., when a U.S. Airways employee noticed his pants were 'below his buttocks, but above the knees, and his boxer shorts were showing.' Rodriguez tells the San Francisco Chronicle that the employee asked Marman to pull up his pants, but he refused. She then asked him to leave the plane. The officer says that after 15 minutes, Marman got off the plane and was cited for trespassing."

"Chief Deputy DA Wagstaffe explained that Marman has not yet been charged with any crime and that prosecutors will be reviewing the case between now and the July 18 arraignment. He said his office had asked for additional accounts of the incident from airline personnel and passengers.

Police arrested Marman on suspicion of three crimes: battery on a police officer, a felony, and resisting arrest and trespassing, both misdemeanors. He faces up to four years in state prison on the battery charge, and one year and six months, respectively, in a county jail for resisting arrest and trespassing."

Marman has since apologized and stated that if he had it to do again he would have pulled up his pants.

Friday, June 17, 2011

When I ride my bike this weekend it will be with a heavy heart. A cycling, bike mechanic and musician-friend was killed on his bike a few days ago. I liked Tim (youthfully drawn) and appreciated the concern and expertise he put into my bike. We will all miss him. I hope the person who caused his death realizes that not only did she recklessly extinguished another human being, but also a good guy who was cared for and loved by many. RIP Tim.

Thursday, June 16, 2011

There are few people I looked up to more, during my time at Harvard and living in Boston, than HMS Professor Augustus "Gus" White, MD, PhD. "Gus" holds many 'first' distinctions, including his tenure as the first black chief surgeon (orthopaedic) at a Harvard teaching hospital (Beth Israel).

When Gus speaks, smart people listen. He has written a book (pictured) on racial bias in medicine. The book is part autobiography, but in typical fashion it is also a challenge for change. He writes how minorities, particularly blacks, receive different treatment than whites, from pain medications to operations like lung cancer, hip replacements, angioplasty, and also recommended preventive treatments, including flu vaccines and colonoscopies. While never one to shy from controversy, Gus reveals how even the best-intentioned physicians in our society continue a bias that has them fail their oath to do no harm.

Tuesday, June 14, 2011

Forget that the folks of Korea's Got Talent edit in their mocking attitude and edit out much of the latter chapter of his life where he finally got help, the story of orphan Sung-Bong Chio is nevertheless inspiring. I'm glad he got help. And it is clear from his words, even edited, that there was an intervention in his rough life that now gives him the chance to feel 'normal', and maybe then some. Good stuff.

Friday, June 10, 2011

Comedian/Actor Tracy Morgan did not accidentally say a bad word about gays. He did a Michael Richards-style implosion, and deserves to go back to square one in his career and prove that he is worth anybody paying to see his ignorant behind. Read what he said here. Apology rejected!

Friday, June 03, 2011

I am reading one of multiple books by psychologist Paul Ekman, the “Lie To Me” guy (here). Ekman is an expert on the non-verbal, involuntary signaling we do with our bodies. He focuses particularly on our faces, in relation to the words out of our mouths.

Eyes of lesser pigment (like those of stippled actor Z.Efron), be they blue, green, or otherwise, put the pupil on full display (over brown eyes) and this is more telling than you might think. It seems that our pupils, which control the amount of light that enters the eye, are under the control of our autonomic nervous system. When we are in love, or attracted to someone our pupils dilate – get bigger – so we can take in more of a good thing. Evolutionary instinct makes us more, or less, consciously aware of watchful eyes, but we often miss this subtlety in the mad rush.

Lighter eyes more readily show emotional response, and blue eyes show it the best. This is mostly good, but sometimes bad. Our pupils also dilate when we are afraid, or lying. So, in matters of the heart light eyes will likely betray false words, communicating to the audience the person’s truer intent. By example, some high-stakes poker players wear dark glasses, so any dilations do not give away their true position on any given hand, during the game.

So, if you follow Dr. Ekman, the next time a blue-eyed suitor/suitress is listening to you go on and on, with big pupils, take it as a positive sign. But if they are talking, with big eyes, be wary, there is a good chance they are lying their pants off, and perhaps yours too.

Tuesday, May 31, 2011

Just to show that I am not a knee-jerk racist-accusing zealot, I did not find this ad racist. The company may owe Ms. Campbell a fee for use of her name and diva-ish reputation, but the reference would seem clearly positive - as I have yet to meet a female who does not love chocolate. (Story here).

Wednesday, May 25, 2011

I try to give people the benefit of the doubt, but upon seeing this advertisement there is none. I also believe the racism accusation should be saved from use every time someone acknowledges difference. This is not one of those cases. This is some Madison Avenue racist bull-shit. I will avoid buying anything related to either of these companies in the future. I say boycott them bastards!

Where to start? Ad for soap, before and after, black to white, dirty to clean. Fat to thin. Dry to moist. Wrinkled to smooth. Sassy to demure. Ergo black is undesirable, white rocks the Casbah. And what’s with the skinny Latina? Pandering to up-swing minority at the expense of another. The only thing missing is a tattoo on the sister. I guess Dove cannot wash away ink, just yet.

Monday, May 23, 2011

Last Friday, the day before the world was suppose to end, a white Alameda County Sheriff’s deputy, performed a routine traffic stop in downtown Oakland, near the 19th Street BART Station, with an amazing result. No one black was shot, arrested, beat up (or down), and all parties involved, including the officer, left the scene intact. Nearby witnesses were truly amazed with the event, although a few immediately scattered at the first sight of the deputy approaching a man driving a BMW, wearing dark glasses, baseball cap, earphones, and a chillin’ attitude.

As the officer cautiously knocked on the driver-side window, the black man instantly remembered Chris Rock’s rules for engaging the police (here). Instead of rolling down the window and yelling in a Samuel Jackson voice, ‘WTF do you want MF!’ I calmly said with a smile, ‘hey officer!’ He then moved his hand away from his gun (to my pleasure), and asked if I knew that I was parked in a red zone. I said no, but it was possible because I did not recall seeing any marking as I approached a few minutes earlier. I added that I was waiting to pick up someone from BART and this was a convenient spot.

Now this is where it got interesting. Upon my words, the deputy stepped back with a look of disbelief and shaking his head. He then straightened up and, with authority, asked for my license and registration and if I had anything else to offer, wherein I said, ‘nope, you got me dude!’ I fully expected a citation, but then he busted out laughing, (like when you were a kid trying to keep milk from shooting out of your nose when your brother farted at Grandma’s dinner table). Officer Laughtrack said he could not believe I was offering the truth as my defense, in downtown Oakland, site of riots and sh_t. He said let’s just call this a warning. I was a little offended that he had expected me to make something up, but I figured it was not the right time to get all righteous, seeing how he did not 'accidently' shoot me.

As he drove away grinning, he beeped and waved, the way buddies do. My awaiting girlfriend had been watching this potential ‘hot mess’ from the safety of the BART escalator (smart lady). She asked, ‘what was that all that about, with the flashing lights and the waving?’ I said (in my best puzzled tone), I’m not sure, but I think I just made a friend - and then the world did not end.

Friday, May 20, 2011

When I heard about the article by Satoshi Kanazawa entitled “Why Are Black Women Less Physically Attractive Than Other Women? Why black women, but not black men?”, published on May 15, 2011, in Psychology Today, I definitely had a WTF moment. Not because the subject is taboo – I have written about attractiveness (here) – but because only a complete moron would title an article this way, with nothing to back it up.

I expected to see some objective science talking about hip-to-waist ratios, bone structures, body fat, child-rearing and the such, not a collection of seat-of-the-pants observations of attractiveness by a set of ‘interviewers’. What makes visual observations about others objective, but self-observations subjective? Were the observations by the Add Health interviewers conducted under any scientific or statistical rigor? Readers of this intellectual mayhem are left to wonder if Psychology Today was secretly purchased by Rupert Murdoch.

With all this said, the objective case for why the women of Northern Europe are more competitive does exist, as a group. I call it the peacock factor. Men select mates largely based on looks, and colors attract. The women of Northern Europe are unique in sporting the widest range of natural colors, hair, eyes, and skin, so they capture the most attention in a crowd. Are these women better looking, individually? No. Do all the color combinations give them a group advantage, Yes. Does the group advantage accrue to individuals? Somewhat. This is not rocket science, but rather easily understood in the cosmetics area of any retail store, in any neighborhood (urban or otherwise).

I will say that Black women (and men) need to unbunch the undies and clean a little house, while ignoring clowns like Kanazawa. Ladies would do better, competitively, if they dropped the wigs, weaves, and adhesives, and opted for locks – cause sisters with the dreads look great and have healthy length and luster, minus the breakages and bald spots. I will not talk about visiting the gym and laying off sugar, oops, my bad. Anyway, I think Satoshi’s just hitting back because Asian men catch a lot of the same crap he is dishing, and of course, he was looking for some free pub (like Dr. “Obama is a Black Mascot” Cornel West).

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